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We pulled chairs up to the table and sat down, holding our breath. I took my rat off my shoulder and put it in the inside pocket of my robe.
Suddenly, there was a crack, the egg broke in half and a small dragon fell out onto the table. He wasn't exactly cute. It looks like a crumpled black umbrella. He was terribly skinny, and the wings protruding from his back seemed too big for such a body. The dragon's muzzle was long, with wide nostrils, prominent horn bumps, and bulging orange eyes.
The dragon sneezed, and a few sparks flew out of its nostrils. I moved away, and she'd set my robe on fire. Harry followed my example.
"Well, isn't he handsome?" Hagrid cooed. He reached out to stroke his pet's head. The dragon opened its mouth like lightning and snapped its sharp fangs, trying to grab Hagrid's finger.
"That's a smart kid! He recognized his mom right away!" Hagrid admired.
"Hagrid, how fast do Norwegian humpback dragons grow?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
Hagrid opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly turned pale and, jumping to his feet, rushed to the window.
"What happened?" Harry shouted.
"Someone was looking in the window, and, as luck would have it, I pulled the curtains loosely", Hagrid said ruefully. "Some kid... Out, running away."
Harry jumped to the door and threw it open. He looked after the blond boy and sighed heavily.
"This is Malfoy." My friend sounded upset.
Damn, well, we got there.
* * *
For the next week, Malfoy smiled unpleasantly at Harry, Hermione, and me, and his smile made us nervous. We spent most of our free time in the semi-darkness of Hagrid's hut, trying to reason with the woodsman.
"Let him go," Harry insisted. "Let him out."
"Can't." Hagrid shook his head. "He's really small. He will die alone."
We looked at the baby dragon. It has become three times longer in a week. Clouds of smoke were continuously billowing out of his nostrils. I even stopped dragging my pet with me, leaving him in our bedroom.
However, Hagrid didn't seem to notice it. Apparently, he had completely forgotten about everything, including his duties as a forester, and if he left the hut, it was only to get food for his ward. Empty brandy bottles rolled across the floor of the hut, which was littered with bird feathers.
"I came up with a name for him-Norbert." Hagrid looked at the dragon with loving eyes. "He already knows me... Look here. Norbert! Norbert! Where's your mommy?"
"He's crazy," I whispered, leaning into Harry's ear.
"Hagrid," Harry called loudly. "Two more weeks, and Norbert won't fit in your cabin. Besides, we probably don't even have two days left! Malfoy can report you to Dumbledore at any moment!"
Hagrid bit his lip.
"I... I know I can't leave him here forever, but I can't leave him either... You can't do that."
Harry suddenly turned to me.
"Charlie!" he exclaimed.
"Well, now you're crazy, too," I said calmly. "My name is Ron, have you forgotten?"
"No, I'm talking about Charlie, your older brother, who studies dragons in Romania. We can send Norbert to him. After all, Charlie will be able to take care of him, and when Norbert grows up, he will set him free!"
"Brilliant!" I yelled. "What do you think of the idea, Hagrid?"
Hagrid didn't like the idea, but after much persuasion and persuasion, the giant agreed to send Charlie an owl. Apparently, deep down, hoping that the answer would not come soon, or maybe not at all.
The three of us wrote my older brother a letter to the Romanian nature reserve and sent it with Hedwig.
* * *
The next week dragged on unusually slowly. On Wednesday, when everyone had gone to bed, Harry and Hermione were still sitting in the Common Room, waiting for me. It was already twelve o'clock when I arrived. After a moment, I took off my invisibility cloak. I was at Hagrid's, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dozens of dead rats. He started sniffing at my Brat, too, so I left the rat in the tower.
"He bit me!" I held out my hand, wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. I probably won't even be able to hold a pen for a few days now. "To be honest, I've never seen a scarier beast than a dragon in my life, and Hagrid is messing with it like it's a little fluffy rabbit. Just imagine: Norbert bit me, and Hagrid started scolding me for scaring his baby. Because I growled at him. And when I left, he sang him a lullaby."
There was a sudden knock on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed, rushing to the window to let the owl in. "She brought the answer. I need to feed you after a long journey, girl."
And Harry asked the brownie on duty for food for his tired owl. A bowl of broth and several rats immediately appeared on the windowsill.
Harry, Hermione, and I put the letter on the table and bent over it.
"Dear Ron,
How are you? Thank you for the letter. I'll be happy to take the Norwegian humpback dragon. But getting him here won't be easy. I think it would be best to send it with my friends who will fly to visit me next week. The problem is that no one should see them transporting the dragon, because it's illegal. I say right away that a male at that age has almost no chance of settling down in the reserve, you can't throw him into the nest anymore. Unless Norbert turns out to be a female, then dragonologists will take care of him.
It will be ideal if you can lead the dragon to the highest tower of Hogwarts Castle on Saturday at midnight. Then they will have time to reach Romania before morning.
Send me a reply as soon as possible. Love, Charlie."
We looked at each other thoughtfully.
"We have my invisibility cloak." Harry said slowly, correctly interpreting our doubts. "I think she'll be able to hide you and me and Norbert, so everything will work out."
Even though this plan was a piece of cake, Hermione and I were happy for even such an ephemeral chance to get rid of the cursed dragon.
* * *
And then something happened that no one expected. The next morning, my bitten hand swelled up, doubling in size. I couldn't decide if going to Madam Pomfrey's would be too risky, because she could probably tell right away that it was a dragon bite. However, after a few hours, I had no choice. The hand turned green. It seems that Norbert's fangs were poisonous. So I trudged to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey immediately plied me with potions to remove the poison and smeared my hand with some kind of ointment. After that, I settled into my bunk, trying to distract myself from the burning sensation, and drinking water. I also have a constant urge to go to the bathroom because of the potion. Harry and Hermione, who rushed to the hospital wing at the end of the day, found me in a terrible state.
"It's not just the hand," I whispered. "Although it feels like it's about to fall off. Then Malfoy came to see me and told Madam Pomfrey that he had come to pick up the book he had given me, but in fact, to make fun of me. He threatened to tell Madam Pomfrey who really bit me. I told her it was a dog, but she didn't seem to believe me. I shouldn't have beaten Malfoy in public, because that's what he's taking revenge on us for now."
Harry and Hermione tried to calm me down.
"It's all over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione reminded me, but I wasn't happy about it at all. I jumped up in bed, and my face was covered with sweat. We're lost, Malfoy will read the letter in the textbook.
Harry put my rat on the bed and pushed a bowl of food towards him.
"Saturday at midnight!" I repeated hoarsely. "I just remembered that Malfoy took the book from me so that Madam Pomfrey would believe that he had come for it. And there was a letter from Charlie in that book! So now he knows everything..."
Harry and Hermione didn't even have time to say anything about it. Madam Pomfrey came into the room and ushered them out, saying I needed to get some sleep. They left, and I sat gloomily on the pillow and tried to pass out. I will never work with dragons.
My little rat started gnawing on grains of cereals and carrots. Then I poured some water into a bowl for him. After dinner, the rat climbed onto my bed and lay down next to my pillow.
Madam Pomfrey was worried that my friend had brought me a pet, saying it was a hospital wing and not a menagerie, but agreed to put up with him for a couple of days while I was in the hospital.
While I was in the hospital, Harry and Hermione managed to pick up Norbert and hand him over to Charlie's friends. Unfortunately, they couldn't avoid getting into trouble. One hundred and fifty points as if from a bush. Horror. Yes, McGonagall didn't even take off so much from Fred and George at a time as during their one night walk.
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